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Uber recently confirmed the acquisition of food delivery unicorn, Postmates. Interestingly, Postmates was feature early this year in Kähler Insights post entitled ‘ The Kolmogorov IPO Score for a16z’s Marketplaces’. The companies that scored poorly were; Postmates (12%), Rover (9%) and SeatGeek (6%). Hence we noted that these unicorns should perhaps consider an M&A as the first exit option rather than IPO!
Another relevant M&A before Postmates was the acquisition of Zoox by Amazon. Our friends at Wire.com wrote an article about it entitled ‘ Amazon Shakes Up the Race for Self-Driving-and Ride-Hailing’:
UBER CEO DARA Khosrowshahi says his company wants to be the “Amazon for transportation.” Friday, Amazon made clear that it intends to be the Amazon for transportation.
The ecommerce giant said it had agreed to acquire Bay Area-based autonomous vehicle company Zoox, a deal reportedly worth more than $1 billion. (Amazon did not respond to WIRED’s queries.) Since its founding in 2014, Zoox has been known for its technical chops, its secretiveness, and its sky-high ambition. While Alphabet’s Waymo is focusing on self-driving tech and leaving the car building to places like Detroit, Zoox has stuck to its plan to design a robotaxi from the ground up-and operate a ride-hail service. In 2018, it showed off its first prototype vehicles, which look like sensor-laden golf carts on steroids. The company has also been testing its software on more conventional-looking Toyota Highlanders in…
